17 August 2010 Financially dependent men more likely to cheat
The more financially dependent a man is on his female partner, the more likely he is to cheat on her, says an American Sociological Association researcher. Interestingly, the opposite appears to be true for women. "Economic dependency seems to have the opposite effect: the more dependent they are on their male partners, the less likely they are to engage in infidelity," said Cornell University's Christin Munsch, the author of the study.
Munsch's research found that men who were completely dependent on their female partner's income were five times more likely to cheat than men who contributed an equal amount of money to the partnership. Men were least likely to cheat when their partners made approximately 75 percent of their incomes.
Ironically, men who make significantly more than their female partners were also more likely to cheat. "At one end of the spectrum, making less money than a female partner may threaten men's gender identity by calling into question the traditional notion of men as breadwinners," Munsch said. "At the other end of the spectrum, men who make a lot more money than their partners may be in jobs that offer more opportunities for cheating like long work hours, travel, and higher incomes that make cheating easier to conceal."
"For women, making less money than a male partner is not threatening, it is the status quo," concluded Munsch. "More importantly, economically dependent women may encounter fewer opportunities to cheat, and they may make a calculated decision that cheating just isn't worth it. If they get caught, their livelihood is at risk."
The more financially dependent a man is on his female partner, the more likely he is to cheat on her, says an American Sociological Association researcher. Interestingly, the opposite appears to be true for women. "Economic dependency seems to have the opposite effect: the more dependent they are on their male partners, the less likely they are to engage in infidelity," said Cornell University's Christin Munsch, the author of the study.